As I reflect on how the business practices of dentistry have changed over the years, it amazes me how dental providers got trapped in the loop of billing insurance carriers for services performed. After all, when I take my car in for maintenance or to get a part replaced, I must pay for the services in full before they hand me the keys to drive my repaired vehicle off of the property!

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could get paid in full before handing the patient their ‘new tooth’?

As wonderful as it sounds, reality bites. And the reality is that there is another revenue stream for dental practices that is waiting in the wings to be tapped into.

I have had mixed feelings about business’s rush to tablet computers. The advantages of a tablet are its size, mobility and its natural user interface. It is a great content consumption device. Want to watch a video, peruse a spreadsheet or even read a blog, it is a impressive device.

When you get to content creation you run into its limitations. I would not want to be composing this blog on a tablet. Give me a keyboard and mouse when it comes to creating something on the computer.

A blog post from MasterCard caught my eye a few months ago. It made the case for eliminating cash (no surprise coming from MasterCard). But surprisingly MasterCard claimed that credit is cheaper than cash (http://tinyurl.com/885y3v9).

Cheaper than cash?

With every credit card transaction various organizations siphon off a small piece of the money that was destined for the merchant (in this case, the dentist). The credit card issuer gets a piece. The merchant’s bank gets a piece. Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express get a piece, as well. The entire dance is usually orchestrated by a credit card transaction company that takes a piece.